Press Releases

NAUH offers four recommendations for health care reform: 1) ensure the adequacy of Medicare and Medicaid payments to providers, including Medicare disproportionate share (Medicare DSH) and Medicaid DSH payments; 2) mandate the inclusion of private, non-profit urban safety-net hospitals in future Medicare demonstration programs that test new approaches to the delivery of integrated care; 3) continue making Medicare medical education payments to teaching hospitals and give urban safety-net hospitals priority in the distribution of new residency slots; and 4) employ appropriate risk adjustments when limiting future Medicare payments for inpatient services for patients readmitted to the hospital shortly after being discharged.

NAUH releases a study that finds that private, non-profit urban safety-net hospitals care for more low-income and uninsured patients and are in worse financial condition than any other type of private hospital. These urban hospitals care for especially large numbers of Medicaid patients, uninsured and underinsured patients, and low-income seniors who cannot afford their Medicare co-pays and deductibles. They also suffer financially because they care for so many Medicaid patients and many state Medicaid programs reimburse them for much less than the cost of the care they deliver to these patients.